A blog launched on the 41st anniversary of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC), the first pro-life organisation in the world, established on 11 January 1967. SPUC has been a leader in the educational and political battle against abortion, human embryo experimentation and euthanasia since then. I write this blog in my role as SPUC's chief executive, commenting on pro-life news, reflecting on pro-life issues and promoting SPUC's work.

Wednesday, 29 December 2010

We must speak out for children abused by homosexual parenting

The late Pope John Paul II, the great pro-life champion, taught (Evangelium Vitae, 1995, para.97) that it is an illusion to think that we can build a true culture of human life if we do not offer our children an authentic education in sexuality, and in love, and the whole of life according to their true meaning and in their close interconnection.

This morning's newspapers carry extensive coverage of the news that Elton John and David Furnish are now the legal parents of a baby boy. Full details have not been confirmed, but it seems that Mr Furnish provided sperm which was used to fertilise a donated egg, and the resulting child was gestated by a surrogate mother. Sir Elton and Mr Furnish evaded UK restrictions on surrogacy by paying for the surrogacy arrangement in California.

Sir Elton's acquisition of a child is thus deeply disturbing. We have a duty to speak out against surrogacy and against homosexual parenting on behalf of the children involved, who are voiceless. Silence on our part would be consent. I hope that religious leaders will speak out in defence of the newborn child - including Catholic bishops. Please let me know if you hear anything. Unfortunately Catholic bishops in England and Wales have given vocal support to homosexualist goals, groups and publications. Both Archbishop Vincent Nichols and Archbishop Bernard Longley have attacked faithful pro-life/pro-family Catholics for telling inconvenient truths about the Soho Masses. One of those truths is the support for homosexual parenting among the Soho Masses organisers. Terence Weldon, a member of the Soho Masses Pastoral Council who distributes Holy Communion at the Masses, is also a homosexualist blogger who writes in favour of homosexual parenting.

Well-informed parents - not least those active locally or nationally in the pro-life movement - must make their voices heard with or without episcopal support. We owe it to the children.

John Smeaton

About Me

I became involved in SPUC after graduating, when I established a branch in south London in 1974. I have worked full-time for SPUC for 39 years. I became chief executive of SPUC in the UK in 1996, having been general secretary since 1978. I was elected vice-president of International Right to Life Federation in 2005. At UN conferences in Cairo, Copenhagen, Beijing, Istanbul and Rome, I helped coordinate more than 150 pro-life/pro-family groups resulting in pro-life victories in Cairo, Istanbul and Rome. I was educated at Salesian College, London, before going to Oxford where I graduated in English Language and Literature. I qualified as a teacher, becoming head of English at a secondary school. I am married to Josephine. We have a grown-up family and we live in north London.

Acknowledgement

I am grateful to SPUC's staff, supporters and advisers for their help to me in researching, writing and producing this blog.

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